This is the first Christmas since my teens that I haven’t been completely annoyed by the whole thing. Oh, I still rail at the commercial where the Yuppie scum couple celebrate with $100,000 worth of new trucks, or how we’re supposed to think love means buying your spouse a high-end luxury car. But I don’t feel the usual sense of dread mixed with despair.

And I’m not sure why.

Maybe it’s because

• The weather has been sunny with temperatures in the 50’s, like December in Arizona, instead of cold and gloomy with slushy streets and bad drivers.
• Peg hasn’t had to do the Death March to Christmas in three years, and we’re going to a 6 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass instead of the 11 p.m. “Midnight” Mass.
• I’m no longer working for a heartless corporation that doesn’t give a shit about its people, and I’ve been doing something I find far more fulfilling.
• I’ve been off all month since surgery and I actually have time to enjoy things like wrapping gifts and making cookies, rather than the last-minute blitz to get it all done.
• I’m too old to be raging at the materialistic “gimme gimme gimme” of the season.

Whatever the reason, something changed. I’ve been pondering my inevitable mortality and prioritizing. As a kid I felt bad for not having much, then I felt guilty as an adult for having more than others. I’m still painfully aware of the divide between the haves and have nots, but I can’t fix it. I can only do my small part to make the world a better place for others, however fleeting that may be.

It’s often said, “The days are long, but the years are short.”  At my age the days are short and, the years are even shorter. Giving and getting stuff isn’t important; friends and family are. Cherish those around you who you love, as you never know which one of them may not be around next Christmas.

© Can Stock Photo / zatletic